Osaka Expo 2025: Plans for the installations and their lasting legacies
- Published on : 17/10/2025
- by : Joshua
- Youtube
Osaka Expo '25
@Ibamoto on Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Osaka Expo 2025 will go down as a landmark event in the city's history. But what will become of the iconic structures that are so synonymous with it? Let's look into the upcoming plans for the installations and pavilions to see how their legacy will last even after the end of the expo.
Starting on April 13th, 2025, the World Expo in Osaka was held up to October 13th with the theme of "Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” Featuring different pavilions hosted by over 158 different countries, the event attracted over 25 million visitors over its six-month tenure.
Osaka Expo garnered a prominent presence both online and within the public consciousness, with its mascot, events, and attractions becoming iconic staples for the year 2025. However, with the event’s closing, many speculate on the fate of the structures that became symbols of the expo, especially the Sou Fujimoto-designed grand ring that encircled the site.
While the event has come and gone, it is important to look back on the expo’s legacy to see if its structures will see the same amount of recognition as some of the artifacts from Osaka’s previous World Expo back in 1970.
We look both to the past and future to see what will become of the many structures built for Osaka Expo 2025.
Osaka Expo '25
@Ashar Mirza on Pexels
The Grand Ring—a lasting legacy for the city of Osaka
The most iconic structure of the expo is, and will continue to be, the Grand Ring. Designed by famed Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, the installation incorporates both contemporary and traditional construction methods. The use of nuki joints, a wedging technique that is often seen at traditional shrines and temples, is a signature detail, and its largely domestic wooden construction promotes sustainability, a concept that is the backbone of the expo as a whole.
While nothing has been solidified as of now, the expo organization looks to preserve at least a portion of the ring to stand where it is now, commemorating the event and serving as a public space. For Osaka’s first world expo in 1970, legendary artist Taro Okamoto created the Tower of the Sun. The same structure stands at Expo ‘70 Commemorative Park in Suita, Osaka, and the preserved portion of the Grand Ring will serve a similar purpose.
Another portion of the ring is set to be preserved; however, it is planned on being relocated—where to is yet to be decided. One final section of the ring will be dismantled. The wood is set to be repurposed and sent to the city of Suzu on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, which suffered a major earthquake on January 1st of 2024.
The Grand Ring by Sou Fujimoto at Osaka Expo '25
@Ibamoto on Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Tower of the Sun by Taro Okamamoto in Osaka, Japan
@Wikimedia
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Other pavilions of Osaka Expo 2025
With 158 different countries taking part in the expo, there are many pavilions featuring different cultures. While many of these pavilions will close and be dismantled, remembered as essential parts of the expo, a few will remain and/or be relocated to different places. Here are a few examples:
- The Netherlands Pavilion will be moved to Awaji Island, part of Hyogo Prefecture.
- The Italian Pavilion will be preserved at the Osaka City Museum of Art.
- The Japan Pavilion will remain on the grounds, part of the commemorative park.
- The Osaka Healthcare Pavilion will also be moved to the Osaka City Museum of Art.
With a large focus on the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the materials used for the dismantled pavilions will be largely repurposed. With the remaining pavilions, their utility will live on for cultural exchange and technology development purposes, extending the expo’s legacy beyond just a fun tourist attraction through the summer.
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